Released June 17, 1983 | ||
B-side "I Dub U"
"We Got the Jazz" Format 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, CD (1987) Recorded 1983, Unique Recording Studios, New York City Genre Electro
synthpop
post-disco Length 7:50 (12" version)
3:49 (7" version) | ||
"I.O.U." is a song from 1983 by British musical group Freeez, their most successful hit.
Contents
The song scored #2 in the UK Singles Chart earlier in 1983 before reaching the top of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in the U.S., giving them their only chart-topping single on any chart in America. It then became the 20th best-selling single of 1983 in the United Kingdom. "I.O.U." was used for the 1984 breakdance movie, Beat Street. The chorus is often erroneously sung by listeners as "A-E, A-E I-O-U and sometimes Y", referring to the vowels of the alphabet. It is actually "A-E, A-E, I-O-U I sometimes cry" and "A-E, A-E, I-O-U I sometimes lie". The music video for "I.O.U." featured on the video version of Now 1 but the song itself did not appear on the album version.
During 1986 a 12" single was released in the US by the Criminal Records company, with new remixes. Some of these remixes were given a re-release during 1987 in the UK for the Citybeat label as "I.O.U. (The Ultimate Mixes '87)", however, it only scored #23 in the UK Singles Chart this time.
Samples
The song has been sampled multiple times. Cutfather and Joe used a sample for their remix of Brandy's 2002 single "Full Moon"; Cheryl Cole for the song "Let's Get Down" from her 2010 album Messy Little Raindrops as does Wawa Club for the remix of StoneBridge's 2007 single S.O.S. Jamie xx uses a vocal sample for the song "Girl", which closes his debut solo album In Colour.